fo 


"THE   PRESENT    CRISIS." 


OEATION 


I  CHARLES    A.    SUMNER, 


DELIVERED    AT 


Grreat    Barrington,    ]VEassacli-asetts5 


ON 


JULY     4,     1861. 


SPRINGFIELD: 
SAMUEL      BOWLES      &      COMPANY,      PRINTERS 

1861. 


u 


THE    PRESENT    CRISIS." 


ORATION 


CHARLES    A.    STJMNER,'* 


San  Jfratuisto, 


DELIVERED   AT 


Grreat    Barrington,    IVCassaclmsetts., 


JULY     4,     1861. 


SPRINGFIELD: 
SAMUEL      BOWLES      &      COMPANY,      PRINTERS. 

1861. 


"7 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


CHARLES  A.  SUMNER,  ESQ. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — At  the  close  of  your  eloquent  and  able  address,  delivered 
at  the  late  Fourth  of  July  in  this  town,  the  people  with  unanimous  voice  asked 
for  its  publication.  As  President  of  the  day,  it  is  my  duty  and  pleasure  to 
respectfully  submit  to  you  their  desire,  trusting  that  it  will  be  compatible  with  your 
inclination,  to  gratify  them. 

Very  Respectfully, 

Your  Ob't  Serv't. 

J.  SEDGWICK. 
GREAT  BARRINGTON,  July  5,  1861. 


JAMES  SEDG-WICK,  ESQ. 

DEAR  SIR: — The  Address,  a  desire  by  my  old  fellow  townsmen  for  the 
publication  of  which  you  have  communicated  to  me  in  flattering  terms,  was  in 
affirmative  reply  to  an  invitation  which  afforded  me  less  than  four  days  time  for 
preparation.  With  this  fact  understood  by  the  reader,  I  am  willing  that  it  should 
pass  into  printed  form,  without  revision  or  alteration. 

Yours  Truly, 

CHARLES  A.  SUMNER. 
GREAT  BARRINGTON,  July  6,  1861. 


BANCROFT  LIBRARY 


ORATION. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS  : 

SUCH  are  the  demands  of  the  Present  upon  our  thoughts 
and  feelings  and  practical  energies,  such  the  tendency  of  a 
large  portion  of  the  American  mind  to  fritter  away  the  auspi- 
cious hours  for  action  in  fruitless  and  demoralizing  harangues, 
that  we  have  the  popular  saying  :  It  is  no  time  for  talk. 

It  is  no  time,  fellow  citizens,  for  characterless  speech.  That 
which  is  said,  not  belonging  to  the  unimpeachable  record  of 
the  past,  unconnected  with  the  issues  immediately  before  us, 
outside  of  the  probable  emergencies  of  the  future,  involves  in 
its  delivery  something  worse  than  a  waste  of  breath  on  the 
part  of  the  speaker  and  of  patience  on  the  part  of  his  au- 
dience. This  is,  indeed,  not  an  hour  for  the  display  of  that 
species  of  vegetable,  compromise  oratory  which  in  our  land  is 
continually  fed  and  nurtured  into  blossom  on  the  mephitic 
vapors  of  morbid  and  temporary  excitements. 

But,  surely,  a  little  reflection  will  relieve  us  ofe  confusion 
of  ideas  concerning  the  abuses  of  language  at  this  juncture, 
and  the  decent,  wholesome  and  necessary  requirements  for 
its  use.  With  the  severe  education  which  we  have  all  re- 
ceived within  the  past  few  months,  there  need  be  no  lack  of 
proper  discrimination  as  to  what  compose  the  elements  of 
manly  and  patriotic  speech.  Nor  can  I  be  mistaken  in  affirm- 
ing— to  me  a  very  consoling  reflection — neither  great  talents 
nor  elaborate  preparation  are  absolutely  requisite  to  the  fulfill- 
ment of  such  an  appointment  as  I  have  been  honored  with  on 
this  occasion  in  a  manner  consistent  with  the  just  laws  and  lim- 
itations already  intimated.  In  the  peculiar  vernacular  of  our 


6 

commercial  age  and  country,  we  may  declare  that  the  rules 
of  "  business  "  have  laid  hold  of  the  terms  of  speech  and,  with- 
out any  degrading  or  injurious  effects,  have  forced  the  appe- 
tites of  the  people  and  the  corresponding  ambition  and  en- 
deavors of  those  who  are  accustomed  to  comment  upon  passing 
events,  to  appeal  to  general  sympathies,  to  invoke  regard  for 
enduring  principles,  in  new,  more  pertinent  and  accomplishing 
channels.  Then  I  shall  very  briefly  occupy  your  attention, 
not  with  many  chosen  forms  of  words — for  time  has  not  been 
given  me  to  prepare  such,  if  I  would — but  at  all  moments  in 
obedience  to  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  exact  wish  of  the  day. 

This  is  the  eighty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. The  day  has  been  rendered  familiar,  from  earliest 
childhood,  to  the  vast  majority  of  those  here  assembled  by  the 
recurrence  with  it  of  demonstrations  of  the  order  which  we 
now  witness.  The  record  of  events  we  celebrate  has  passed 
into  so  many  forms  of  literature,  is  springing  forth  in  so 
many  conversations  of  our  lives,  that  to  present  it  now  in 
specific  rehearsal  might  seem  a  work  of  supererogation  and 
impertinence.  But  a  part  of  the  humble  though  earnest  en- 
deavor of  the  hour  ought  not  to  be  other  than  an  attempt  to 
freshen  our  recollections  of  the  Past,  in  order  that  we  may 
deepen  our  impressions  of  the  danger,  the  privileges,  the  sub- 
limity of  the  Present.  And  with  the  parallels  and  contrasts 
afforded  by  recent  experiences,  the  task  ought  not  to  be  diffi- 
cult or  wearisome. 

Through  trials  and  tribulations,  which  challenge  for  their 
representation  all  titles  of  pain  and  honor,  our  fathers  secured 
for  us  this  goodly  heritage.  It  becomes  us  always  to  study 
the  history  of  their  labors  and  sufferings  ;  it  is  required  of  us 
to-day,  that  we  give  them  especial  thanks  for  their  struggles 
in  successful  vindication  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  man. 
And  to  excite  again,  with  stronger  flame,  this  sentiment  of 
gratitude  in  your  hearts,  we  need  but  refer  to  the  indisputable 
calendar  of  their  generation.  Every  day  of  their  battle  is  re- 
membered; every  soldier  and  statesman  who  rendered  his 
country  important  service  and  honor,  has  a  monument  in  our 
regard. 

The  story  of  the  Revolution  permits  no  eulogium.  In  its 
simple  letter  it  shadows  in  vanity  the  praise  of  man.  And 


let  no  one,  however  distinguished,  however  capable  or  felicit- 
ous in  the  employment  of  eulogistic  phrase,  in  foolish  conceit 
lift  up  his  single  taper  to  throw  back  light  upon  the  brilliantly 
self-illuminated  pages  of  our  national  history. 

Eighty-five  years  ago  to-day,  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence which  asserted  the  equal  right  of  all  men  to  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  was  given  to  the  world.  The 
bell  which  swung  in  the  tower  of  the  old  Continental  Con- 
gress Hall,  in  Philadelphia,  proclaimed  from  its  brazen  throat 
the  adoption  of  those  immortal  articles  of  political  faith,  and 
struck  the  key  note  of  the  anthem  of  a  new  Republic. 

It  is  an  observation  which  invariably  attaches  itself  to  a 
review  of  all  great  movements  destined  to  secure  permanent 
and  blessed  results,  that  their  inception  and  their  growth  into 
systematic  lines,  is  very  gradual ;  that  their  originators  and 
conductors  approach  their  decisive  actions,  not  only  with  un- 
h.urried  steps,  but  with  much  of  reluctance  and  unconscious- 
ness. That  which  can  be  expressed  in  the  description  of  mere 
impulse  is  far  from  revealing  the  might  and  majesty  of  their 
motives  and  deeds.  A  single  though  grievous  insult  may  not 
provoke  a  wise  man  to  wrath  and  strife.  A  series  of  injuries 
were  long  and  patiently  endured,  and  then  humbly  com- 
plained of,  by  our  ancestors,  before  the  idea  of  concerted 
rebellion  and  separation  was  entertained  and  developed. 
Their  representations  of  grievances  made  to  the  authorities 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  mother  country,  were  submitted 
for  years  in  language  of  unmistakable  subordination  and 
affection ;  nay,  with  positive  and  oft-repeated  declarations  of 
a  profound  loyalty,  which  lent  a  more  stinging  sorrow  to  their 
burden  of  regret  and  supplication. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  worthy  of  our  notice  at  this 
juncture  in  our  domestic  affairs,  our  Revolutionary  sires 
made  no  concealment  of  whatever  of  intention  they  had  respect- 
ing their  course  of  action  in  resentment  and  for  reparation. 
While  they  exhibited  through  years  of  oppression  a  scrupu- 
lous fidelity  to  the  parent  Government,  continually  and  with 
unquestioned  sincerity  announcing  their  fidelity  to  the  crown, 
an  enlightened  and  candid  Ministry  could  not  have  failed  to 
understand  the  exact  purpose  of  the  Colonists  in  every  movement 
of  their  remonstrance,  up  to  the  very  date  of  the  first  battle 


8 

of  the  Revolution.  And  the  Rulers  of  Great  Britain  could 
only  declare  their  surprise  at  the  tidings  of  the  encounter  at 
Lexington,  because  blinded  by  a  disposition  of  insolent  and 
unpitying  tyranny. 

There  were  no  robberies  of  the  King's  arsenals ;  no  plun- 
dering of  his  magazines  and  warehouses ;  no  insults  were  re- 
turned to  the  overbearing  soldiery  who  for  months  lived  vir- 
tually on  the  bounty  of  the  Massachusetts  Colonists,  and  who 
stalked  with  outrageous  offence  through  the  streets  of  Boston. 
~No  cry  ascended  from  the  Representatives  of  the  Colony,  that 
their  soil  was  too  sacred  for  the  tread  of  an  armed  Briton ; 
only,  and  ever,  and  with  a  stern  calmness  came  the  voice  ot 
remonstrance  and  pleading  against  "  inequality  in  taxation 
and  representation."  And  when  they  were  forced  to  hostile 
measures,  the  people  of  Boston  Bay  extemporised  themselves 
as  Indian  stevedores,  and  instead  of  stealing  the  cargo,  ren- 
dered obnoxious  by  the  unjust  impost  which  had  been  placed 
upon  it,  they  indignantly  and  contemptuously  tumbled  it  into 
the  sea. 

It  is  not  to  be  disputed  that  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  as 
conducted  by  the  American  leaders,  introduced  a  better,  and 
what  is  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  moral  code  into  the  conten- 
tions of  opposing  armies.  All  through  those  times  of  trial,  a 
profound  respect  for  the  constructive  rights  of  the  enemy,  a 
fraternal  sympathy  with  and  care  for  the  wounded  and  cap- 
tured foe,  a  willingness  to  sacrifice  all  of  temporary  advantage 
for  a  fair  contest,  a  regard  amounting  to  delicate  tenderness  for 
the  feelings  of  the  discomfited  chieftains  were  made  as  clearly 
and  splendidly  manifest  as  was  the  unconquerable  determina- 
tion to  abide  by  the  assertion  of  the  principles  of  common  free- 
dom to  the  bitterest  possible  conclusion.  In  proof  of  this,  speak 
out  all  the  volumes  of  our  history.  And  in  exceeding  shameful 
contrast  stand  the  records  of  the  deeds  of  those  who  have  re- 
cently excited  insurrection  within  the  borders  of  the  Republic 
which  was  so  gloriously  born — so  magnanimously  maintained 
unto  a  universally  recognized  and  admired  existence.  Be  .it 
ours,  as  true  children  of  our  Revolutionary  sires,  to  continue 
the  erection  of  the  nobler  monuments  of  civilized  warfare. 

But  here  we  should  not  fail  to  remember  that  other  fact, 
so  significant  arid  commendable  at  this  time :  whenever,  ac- 


cording  to  the  acknowledged  discipline  of  war,  the  upholding 
of  our  cause  demanded  the  execution  of  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law,  not  even  a  sentence  or  sanction  by  the  Christian 
Washington  was  wanting,  though  he  blotted  the  death  warrant 
which  he  signed  with  his  tears  ;  not  even  the  brilliant  talents 
and  accomplishments,  and  the  noble  temper  of  an  Andre,  could 
shield  a  convicted  spy  from  the  doom  which  the  world's  cus- 
tom had  appointed  as  a  consequence  of  his  established  guilt. 
Although  we  are  not  informed  that  the  British  ever  perpetra- 
ted such  dreadful  and  wanton  cruelties  upon  their  captives 
as  have  been  inflicted  by  the  rebels  of  this  day  and  land  upon 
defenceless  men,  women  and  children,  suspected  merely  of 
immovable  love  for  the  Union,  our  generous  fathers  did  not 
learn,  as  they  certainly  never  cultivated  and  practiced,  the 
transcendental  art  of  detecting  the  vilest  and  most  unscrupu- 
lous foes  in  the  disguise  of  friends,  to  gently  and  hospitably 
retain  their  persons  for  a  brief  season  and  then  release  them 
on  their  word  of  honor. 

Mr.  Sumner  spoke  of  other  events  which  deserved  to  be 
cherished  with  emphasis  this  day. 

He  recounted  the  main  and  stirring  incidents  in  the  battle 
of  Fort  Moultrie,  in  Charleston  harbor,  in  the  latter  part  of 
June,  1776  :  calling  to  remembrance  the  fact  that  the  brave 
commander  of  the  American  forces  engaged  in  that  contest, 
who  had  held  his  little  Palmetto  fort  against  a  formidable  fleet 
of  British  vessels,  directed  in  their  operations  by  experienced 
and  skillful  naval  oflicers, — forcing  the  enemy  to  retire  after  a 
severe  and  protracted  cannonade,  with  riddled  hulls  and  terri- 
ble losses  of  men— on  this  day,  eighty-five  years  ago,  received  the 
congratulations  of  his  superior  officers,  and  was  informed  that 
the  spot  which  he  had  so  gallantly  and  successfully  defended, 
at  such  fearful  odds,  should  forever  after  be  called  by  his  name. 
The  people  of  Charleston,  with  anxious  and  almost  despond- 
ing hearts,  watched  the  progress  of  that  encounter  from  the 
wharves  and  house-tops  of  their  City ;  and  as  the  sun  rose 
on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  June  upon  the  white  and  cres- 
cent-emblazoned flag  of  freedom,  floating  proudly  from  the 
parapet  of  the  fort,  while  the  ships  of  the  defeated  squadron 
were  seen  at  distant  anchorage,  the  shouts  of  rejoicing  that 
rent  the  air  were  so  loud  and  general  and  enthusiastic  that  no 
2 


10 

one  there  present  would  have  dared  to  dream  that  within  less 
than  four  generations  that  very  place  should  be  desecrated  by 
notes  of  savage  glee,  sounded  by  a  united  and  frantic  populace 
over  a  dastardly  attack  upon  the  Government,  for  the  building 
of  which  the  intrepid  Moultrie  and  his  soldiers  had  hewn  a 
corner  stone. 

Allusions  were  made  to  the  battle  of  Great  Meadows ;  and 
the  fact  that  107  years  ago,  on  this  day,  George  Washington 
marched  out  of  Fort  Necessity,  relinquishing  that  important 
post  to  the  French,  after  an  encounter  in  which  he  taught  the 
world  a  lesson  in  regard  to  American  valor  which  they  could 
not  affect  to  overlook  or  forget. 

He  spoke  of  the  remarkable  and,  as  it  would  seem,  Provi- 
dential coincidence : — the  death  of  the  two  great  progenitors 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence — John  Adams  and  Thom- 
as Jefferson,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1826. 

Mr.  Sumner  then  proceeded : — In  a  spirit  of  gratitude  and 
veneration,  we  have  briefly  glanced  at  the  Past. 

WE  LIVE  AMID  STERN  AND  TREMENDOUS  SCENES  ! 

The  waves  of  our  National  Time,  first  troublous  and  ever 
surging  with  the  storms,  have  for  years  with  unexampled  pla- 
cidity or  healthfulness  of  motion  rolled  down  into  the  latitude 
of  this  generation. 

One  year  ago  to-day,  the  honest  citizen  whose  mind  was  un- 
educated in  the  purposes  of  traitors  saw  nothing  of  desperate 
circumstance  in  the  immediate  future  of  our  country.  Party 
spirit  was  indeed  stimulated  to  unprecedented  extremities ;  the 
rancor  and  heartlessness  of  party  strife  disgusted  every  one 
who  had  not  descended  to  the  trade  of  a  politician.  But  I 
undertake  to  say,  neither  North  nor  South  were  there  any 
general  apprehensions  of  the  coming  of  events  which  we 
must  now  at  least  contemplate  as  stubborn  facts,  if  we  do  not 
all  of  us  deplore  them  as  mournful  realities. 

Our  fathers  toiled  up  a  rough  ascent  until  they  reached  a 
fair  table-land  of  freedom  on  the  Mountain  of  Liberty.  Their 
children  for  nearly  a  century  have  been  in  comparatively  un- 
disturbed enjoyment  of  unequaled  political  privileges.  The 
hour  has  arrived  for  the  testing  of  the  strength  of  the  benefi- 
cent civil  institutions  bequeathed  to  us ;  and,  as  I  firmly  be- 
lieve, for  our  advance  farther  up  the  hights  to  new,  bolder  and 
more  glorious  governmental  elevations. 


11 

My  fellow  citizens  :  I  have  not  presumed  to  enter  upon  a 
review  of  the  causes  that  brought  about  the  struggle  of  the 
Revolution.  A  just  and  full-orbed  synopsis  of  those  causes 
would  demand  larger  opportunity  for  preparing  study  for  this 
occasion  than  I  have  enjoyed,  more  time  for  delivery  than  I 
could  rightfully  claim.  But  I  do  not  deem  myself  in  any  de- 
gree incompetent  to  tell,  within  a  space  of  startling  brevity, 
the  origin  and  the  nature  of  the  present  Rebellion.  The 
whole  matter  can  be,  in  my  judgment,  related  best  with  the 
employment  of  the  simplest  and  most  familiar  idioms.  It  is 
true  that  for  over  thirty  years  elements  of  discord  have  been 
at  work,  on  more  than  one  occasion  threatening  our  national 
overthrow  or  dissolution.  At  one  time  a  violent  outbreak, 
which  promised  disruption,  was  subdued  by  the  indomitable 
will  and  executive  hand  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

It  has  been  prominently  stated,  and  it  is  generally  believed, 
that  the  disturbances  of  the  present  hour  are  the  legitimate 
offspring  of  the  theories  of  one  man,  long  since  passed  away — 
in  his  speculations  and  plans  embracing,  perhaps,  the  thoughts 
and  dispositions  of  the  majority  of  the  people  of  one  state ; 
that  John  C.  Calhoun,  with  his  doctrine  of  Nullification,  is 
the  far-back  but  responsible  author  of  this  Rebellion.  (A  voice 
— "No,  no.")  I  do  not  so  think;  I  beg  leave  to  differ  most 
thoroughly  from  that  opinion.  I  know  that  there  may  instant- 
ly occur  to  the  minds  of  many  of  my  audience  the  quotations 
which  the  traitors  of  the  day  spread  out  in  their  publications 
from  the  writings  of  the  high  priest  of  Nullification.  I  will 
not  declare  that  his  logic  may  not  oftentimes  lead  to  dissolving 
views  of  the  Union,  even  where  such  is  not  the  open  procla- 
mation. But  my  belief  remains,  that  had  Calhoun,  or  such  as 
he,  never  occupied  a  seat  or  uttered  a  sentiment  in  the  Con- 
gress of  our  Republic  the  present  rebellion  would  have 
developed.  Of  course,  the  so-called  " President"  of  the 
so-called  "Confederate  States"  and  his  co-traitors  steal 
many  of  their  apologetic  ideas  from  the  products  of  the  won- 
derful intellect  of  Calhoun,  the  same  as  they  steal  the  property 
of  the  Nation.  It  would  be  unnatural  if  they  did  not.  They 
quote  and  steal  Scripture  for  their  purposes.  But  although 
the  perversion  in  the  latter  case  may  be  palpably  flagrant,  and 
the  application  in  the  former  as  plausibly  apt  and  correct,  I 


12 

desire  to  submit  some  reasons  which  repose  in  the  indisputable 
alphabet  of  modern  history,  why  we  should  hold  to  the  intrin- 
sic originality  of  this  insurrection  with  the  persons  who  have 
it  now  in  charge.  And  I  shall  be  very  brief. 

In  the  first  place,  many  causes  are  assigned  by  the  same  in- 
dividuals as  good  in  vindication  of  the  conduct  of  the  rebels, 
which  are  in  themselves  absolutely  inconsistent.  There  is,  in 
point  of  fact,  no  plain-faced  logic  in  the  manifestoes  which  are 
put  forward  from  those  quarters.  The  close  and  exhaustive 
analytical  mind  of  Calhoun  would  have  been  mortified  beyond 
measure  and,  as  I  must  think,  pained  into  abrupt  and  public 
rejection  of  the  conflicting,  nonsensical  speech,  denominated 
argument  by  its  fulminators  only,  which  we  meet  on  the 
threshold  of  this  discussion. 

A  general  complaint  is  made,  "  The  South  has  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  the  North."  In  the  same  breath  it  is  conceded 
and  boasted  that  men  with  the  most  intense  southern  sympa- 
thies have  thus  far  exercised  predominating  power  in  the  ad- 
ministering of  the  laws  of  the  government.  The  Chief  Exec- 
utive, the  Senate,  the  Supreme  Court  have  always  promptly 
answered  to  their  extreme  demands.  In  what  manner,  then, 
has  the  South  been  oppressed  by  the  North  ?  Ask  for  specifi- 
cations, and  the  ingenuity  of  intelligent  and  candid  men  is 
strained  to  its  utmost  tension  in  vain  endeavors  to  gather  from 
the  vague  and  wild  replies  anything  like  a  definite  basis  for 
this  wholesale  accusation.  Many  of  our  keenest  and  most  un- 
prejudiced statesmen  have  resolutely  descended  into  this  sea 
of  inquiry,  wrestling  long  and  patiently  for  substantial  answers, 
only  to  return  to  the  open  sky  with  their  diving  armor  covered 
with  the  filth  of  abuse  and  vituperation.  But  we  do  know 
their  reasons  and  object  in  this  business.  We  will  not  seek 
their  direct  statements,  for  -those  are  intended  to  conceal  what 
their  action  pronounces. 

Let  us  read  History  : — 

The  Rebels  began  their  ivork  of  demoralization  and  disun- 
ion by  affecting  a  very  tender  regard  for  the  interests  of  Sla- 
very. They  ascribed  to  the  North  a  desire  to  overturn  that 
institution  by  direct  interference  in  the  domestic  affairs  of 
states.  The  charge  was  denied  in  terms  so  explicit,  from  au- 
thorities so  potential,  by  actions  so  emphatic,  as  to  leave  no 


13 

ground  for  decent  repetition  of  the  same  charge.  But  the 
sound  of  this  same  accusation  went  up  without  ceasing  or 
modification.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress 
from  the  South  who  continued  this  peal  of  complaint  knew 
that  they  were  lying. 

They  desired  that  the  compromise  line  of  1820  should  no 
longer  hinder  them  from  making  slave  states  north  of  the 
parallel  therein  prescribed.  A  majority  of  the  Congressmen 
from  the  North  objected  to  the  breaking  down  of  that  conse- 
crated wall  of  Freedom.  They  spoke  not  for  "  Northern 
Rights,"  but  of  the  rights  of  Freedom.  But  as  "  Southern 
Rights"  or  the  appetites  of  Slavery  demanded,  that  compro- 
mise line  was  destroyed.  The  instruments  in  this  nefarious 
plot  were  a  weak  Executive  and  corrupted  Congressmen.  It 
was  " constitutionally  "  removed,  through  fraud;  while  they 
who  attempted  to  maintain  it  in  its  integrity  were  denounced 
as  sectional  and  fanatical,  as  worshipers  of  the  negro.  The 
men  who  launched  forth  these  miserable  and  inapplicable  epi- 
thets knew  that  they  had  achieved  a  great  wrong  by  blatant 
pretense  on  the  one  hand  and  bribery  on  the  other — that  they 
were  slandering  good  citizens  and  true — that  they  were 
attempting  to  hide  their  iniquity,  their  falsehood  and  treachery 
by  a  blackguard  derision  of  patriots  whom  they  could  not 
wheedle  nor  frighten  nor  purchase  into  their  scheme  of  wrong. 

But  the  God  of  Nature  was  to  prevent  their  entering  the 
Territory  of  Kansas  and  devoting  its  soil  to  slavery.  So 
they  said  when  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  destroyed. 
Every  representative  of  the  peculiar  institution  who  thus 
spoke,  uttered  a  deliberate  lie  ;  for  it  was  their  intention,  as 
afterward  thoroughly  manifested,  to  spread  their  system  of 
African  bondage  over  the  wonderfully  fertile  lands  thus  opened 
to  its  blighting  influences. 

If  they  did  believe  that  the  God  of  nature  would  incline  to 
ward  out  their  beloved  institution  with  uncompromising  iso- 
thermal lines,  they  disclosed  a  profound  moral  obliquity  by 
their  desperate  endeavors,  in  the  face  of  such  an  acknowledg- 
ment and  opinion,  to  force  the  shackled  black  man  into  Kansas, 
there  to  toil  in  competition  with  the  white  child  of  freedom. 
And  if  at  the  commencement  of  this  nefarious  work  they  were 
willing  to  confess  that  they  were  defying  the  God  of  Nature, 


14 

they  certainly  concluded  their  abortive  attempt  with  a  new 
and  compound  name  for  the  obstacle  which  they  found  in  their 
path — New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Societies  and  Sharp's  Ri- 
fles. While  they  said  at  the  outset,  with  false  tongues,  It  is 
foreordained  of  Heaven  that  Kansas  shall  be  free  ;  the  Border 
Ruffians  who  were  sent  out  by  them  on  a  voyage  of  practical 
inquiry  and  struggle  in  the  premises  returned  with  the  answer, 
that  whatever  might  be  in  the  decrees  of  Providence  concern- 
ing the  future  condition  of  the  Territory,  the  laboring  men  of 
the  North  had  overrun  the  land  and  would  make  good  the 
prophecies  of  freedom  for  Kansas,  which  had  been  hypocriti- 
cally mouthed  by  the  masters  in  the  slave  oligarchy.  And  the 
burden  of  this  report  was  partly  taken  up  by  the  leading  south- 
ern politicians.  They  exclaimed,  "Alas!  we  are  deprived  of 
an  accession  to  our  slave-area  on  account  of  the  villainous  com- 
bination of  Massachusetts  men  and  Connecticut  rifles."  And 
for  once,  in  this  plain  narrative,  I  am  obliged  to  confess  that 
they  approximated  to  the  truth.  In  place  of  a  dove-like  rev- 
erence for  nature's  accredited  edict,  they  suddenly  and  philo- 
sophically rise  to  a  white-heat  hatred  of  New  England  gun- 
powder. There  was  much  exaggeration  even  here.  The  free- 
men of  the  North  were  continually  subject  to  insult,  plunder 
and  deadly  attack,  while  the  occurrence  of  retaliation  and 
reparation  was  disproportionally  rare. 

Is  it  worth  while  to  stop  and  mark  the  cluster  of  inconsis- 
tencies— to  employ  the  mildest  term — in  this  section  of  the 
record  ?  First,  the  compromise  line  of  1820  is  unfair  and  un- 
just in  its  cramping  effects  upon  the  South ;  a  little  farther 
on  in  the  debate  the  talk  is,  Slave  labor  cannot  be  profitably 
employed  north  of  the  designated  line — an  assertion  contra- 
dicted by  the  condition  of  Missouri  and  other  border  slave 
States ;  then  upon  the  heels  of  the  overthrow  of  the  compro- 
mise comes  a  determined  and  unprincipled  struggle  in  the 
Territory  and  in  Congress  to  plant  the  institution  of  slavery  in 
Kansas ;  then  howling,  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  threats  of  dis- 
union because  in  a  perfectly  legitimate  manner,  and  after  the 
most  outrageous  attempts  to  render  it  otherwise,  it  was  made 
evident  that  slavery  would  be  crowded  out  of  the  land  which 
is  now  represented  as  a  free  State  by  the  last  star  on  our 
banner. 


15 

John  Brown — a  man  of  three  score,  who  went  with  peaceful 
intentions  to  Kansas,  was  there  robbed  and  maltreated  by  the 
myrmidons  of  the  slave  oligarchy,  there  witnessed  the  murder 
of  his  son  and  the  violation  of  his  daughter  by  the  scions  of 
southern  chivalry — in  a  fit  of  wild  but  methodical  insanity 
contrived  a  plan  for  the  wholesale  emancipation  of  the  slaves  of 
northern  Virginia.  He  succeeded  in  taking  the  United  States 
arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry  and  scaring  out  the  whole  militia 
force  of  the  Old  Dominion.  He  was  tried  and  condemned  to 
be  hung  by  the  authorities  of  the  State.  And  his  offence  was 
pronounced  "  Treason," — among  other  titles.  In  spite  of  his 
acknowledged  crimes,  his  conduct  during  his  incarceration  and 
at  the  place  of  execution  was  so  manly  and  brave  that  he  re- 
ceived openly  expressed  sympathy  from  thousands  who  did 
not  and  would  not  seek  to  detract  from  the  measure  of  his 
guilt  as  pronounced  by  the  court,  or  mitigate  the  severity  of 
the  penalty  affixed  thereto.  The  present  rebels  then  asserted 
that  the  John  Brown  foray  was  a  fair  evidence  of  the  temper 
and  intentions  of  a  majority  of  the  northern  people.  That 
was  a  lie,  and  they  knew  it.  It  was  uttered  and  harped  upon 
principally  for  effect  upon  the  ignorant  masses  beneath  them, 
whom  they  were  tutoring  for  the  hard  work  of  Treason.  John 
Brown's  trial  informed  every  intelligent  man  at  the  North  as 
to  the  condition  of  the  social  strata  on  which  the  slave  States 
repose,  and  not  only  gave  full  play  to  the  eccentric  faculties  of 
Governor  "Wise,  but  exhibited,  as  of  singular  species,  the  cour- 
age of  the  people  of  his  commonwealth. 

The  Democratic  party  stood  most  ready,  above  all  other  po- 
litical organizations,  to  conciliate  the  South.  They  seemed 
ready  and  anxious  to  go  to  any  extent  within  the  bounds  of 
reason  in  promotion  of  the  interests  of  their  Southern  breth- 
ren. I  am  not  speaking  as  a  partizan,  or  in  any  sense  as  a 
fault-finder ;  I  state  a  fact.  But  the  most  prominent  leader  in 
this  party  refused  at  one  period  to  comply  with  the  demands 
of  the  slavocracy,  and  the  latter  would  not  permit  his  nomina- 
tion for  the  presidency.  The  Democratic  party  was  divided 
by  the  men  who  to-day  are  attempting  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  By  this  division,  alone,  was  the  election  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  to  the  presidency  prevented.  It  would  be  more  diffi- 
cult, if  not 'impossible,  to  betray  the  uninformed  populace  into 


16 

overt  acts  of  treason  if  Douglas  was  chief  executive.  Some 
candid  individuals  among  their  number  boldly  confessed  that 
this  was  the  basis  of  their  action  at  Baltimore. 

It  was  said  that  the  South  desired  new  guarantees  that 
slavery  should  not  be  interfered  with  in  the  states.  Congress, 
at  its  last  session,  voted  to  place  a  clause  in  the  Constitution 
which  should  recite  this  very  assurance  ;  and,  had  sober  time 
permitted,  all  the  free  states  would  have  ratified  and  sealed 
that  clause.  But  this  was  not  enough  for  the  rebels.  When 
this  provision  was  formally  asked  for  the  Rebels  hoped  that  it 
would  be  refused.  When  it  was  given  they  may  have  been 
somewhat  disappointed,  but  their  purpose  was  not  changed. 

During  the  last  hours  of  the  leaders  of  the  Rebellion  in  the 
United  States  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  the  talk 
of  "  Compromise  "  was  long,  tedious  and  extravagant.  But 
through  it  all  there  are  no  reasonable  grounds  marked  out  by 
the  secessionists  on  which  they  could  rear  a  statement  of 
provocations  for  anything  approaching  in  character  their  pres- 
ent rebellious  position.  Some,  indeed,  who  are  now  loudest 
in  defence  of  the  "  Southern  Confederacy,"  were  then  equally 
vehement  in  denouncing  secession,  painting  its  inevitable  hor- 
rors in  the  most  vivid  colors. 

The  Secretary  of  War  originally  selected  by  President  Bu- 
chanan, labored  during  his  entire  term  of  office  in  removing 
arms  and  war  munitions  from  Northern  manufactories  and  ar- 
senals to  Southern  ports ;  causing,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  the 
destruction  of  such  implements  of  war  remaining  in  the  North- 
ern states  as  he  could  not  place  to  the  direct  advantage 
of  the  Traitors.  The  latest  intelligence  we  have  from  this  dis- 
tinguished individual  consists  in  a  report  of  a  balcony  speech 
to  a  party  of  serenaders,  in  the  course  of  which  he  incidentally 
remarks  that  he  is  "  an  honest  man." 

Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois  was,  in  November  last,  consti- 
tutionally elected  President  of  these  United  States.  It  was  so 
declared  by  John  C.  Breckenridge,  in  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate ;  at  a  time  when  several  now  prominent  leaders  of  the  Re- 
bellion retained  their  seats  in  that  body.  It  has  been  claimed 
that  his  election  was  just  cause  for  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
To  this  assertion,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  now  Vice  President 
of  the  "Confederate  States  "  entered  a  formal  and  explicit  de- 


17 

nial.     But  that  was  some  months  ago,  before  Mr.  Stephens  had 
been  bribed  by  a  bauble  office,  and  had  ceased  to  speak  the  truth. 

In  his  inaugural  address,  President  Lincoln  assured  the  peo- 
ple of  the  South  that  it  was  not  within  the  possible  intentions 
of  his  administration  to  interfere  with  their  property  in  slaves  ; 
that,  on  the  contrary,  all  their  rights  in  this  respect  should  be 
sacredly  guarded.  (A  voice — "  And  he  has  not  interfered  with 
their  peculiar  institution.")  As  a  venerable  friend  on  my  left 
suggests,  the  President  has  given  uniform  evidence  of  his  pur- 
pose to  fulfill  that  pledge.  At  the  same  time  President  Lin- 
coln reminded  the  country  that  he  had  registered  an  oath  in 
heaven  to  maintain  the  Government  in  its  fullest  integrity. 
He  presumed  that  no  citizen  had  sworn  to  aid  in  its  overthrow. 
His  announcement,  however,  that  it  was  his  intention  as 
chief  executive  to  hold  and  possess  the  public  offices,  the  cus- 
tom houses,  dock  yards,  etc.,  belonging  to  the  government,  in 
the  already  rebellious  states,  was  received  throughout  the 
South  as  a  "  Declaration  of  War !" 

Now  if  any  man  wishes  to  go  back  still  farther  for  first  prin- 
ciples and  underlying  motives,  I  am  content.  But  I  can  not 
go  with  him.  I  would  not  seek  in  the  genius  of  Calhoun  the 
beginning  of  this  system  of  falsehood  and  organized  treason. 
It  may  be  a  consolation  to  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  under  in- 
dictment for  murder,  if  he  be  allowed  through  counsel  to  refer 
to  the  fratricide  of  Abel,  as  recorded  in  the  first  chapters  of 
Genesis  ;  but  the  deliberations  of  the  jury,  I  imagine,  would 
still  be  confined  to  the  relevancy  and  force  of  the  testimony 
which  they  received  from  the  witness  stand. 

The  leaders  of  the  present  rebellion  were  determined  to  rule 
or  ruin — to  rule  in  the  Union,  or  to  rule  over  a  fragment  of 
the  Union.  They  had,  in  their  minds,  a  real  cause  for  insur- 
rection, not  in  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  but  in  the  defeat  of 
Mr.  Breckenridge.  The  subtleties  of  Calhoun  had  no  more 
educating  influence  over  their  actions  than  the  essays  of  Seneca. 

I  shall  not  trace  the  history  of  this  rebellion  in  anything 
like  a  detail  rehearsal.  The  well-known  character  of  its  con- 
ductors would  be  sufficient  to  promise  a  record  of  infamy.  At 
the  head  of  the  "  Confederate  States"  stands  Jefferson  Davis, 
whose  most  prominent  action  heretofore  has  been  the  advocacy 
of  the  scheme  of  repudiating  the  state  debt  of  Mississippi ;  a 

3 


18 

man  noted  for  his  licentiousness  and  his  insufferable  vanity  ; 
a  man  who  has  been  denounced  as  a  liar  and  a  poltroon  from 
one  end  of  his  state  to  the  other,  and  who  has  not  displayed 
even  the  "  courage  of  the  code  "  in  resentment  or  vindication  ; 
a  man  over  whose  entire  public  life,  clotted  with  selfish  politi- 
cal intrigues,  there  have  been  cast  no  blessed  shadows  of  re- 
pentance. 

For  his  chief  counsellor  and  "  Attorney  General  " — his  San- 
cho  Panza — Mr.  Davis  employs  one  J.  P.  Benjamin,  known 
and  branded  by  his  college  tutors  as  a  thief;  while  holding  a 
seat  in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  recognized  as  the  warm  friend  and 
special  advocate  of  a  nest  of  lobby  corruptionists,  whose  rotten 
claims  and  gigantic  land-bill  swindles  it  was  his  function  and 
delight  to  favor. 

One  of  Mr.  Davis'  Secretaries  illustrates  his  character  by 
prophesying  the  occupation  of  Washington  by  the  Rebels 
during  the  month  of  May — exhibiting  at  the  moment  of  ut- 
terance a  singular  discretion,  and,  as  time  develops  the  truth 
of  his  prediction,  marvellous  gifts  of  prescience. 

At  the  head  of  the  Confederate  troops  is  a  General  whose 
Virginia  proclamation  asserts  that  the  President  of  the  United 
States  is  an  "  abolitionist,"  the  soldiers  of  the  Government 
"hirelings,"  and  the  cry  of  the  entire  army  of  the  Union, 
"Booty  and  Beauty!" 

In  their  own  chosen  time  the  rebels  proceeded  to  steal  our 
forts  and  arsenals,  our  dock  yards,  depositories  of  money,  cus- 
tom-houses and  public  edifices  of  all  descriptions,  and  to  ap- 
propriate to  their  own  use  and  aggrandizement  all  the  National 
property  which  they  could  seize  without  immediate  jeopardy 
of  their  precious  lives.  The  hands  of  the  Rulers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment seemed  to  be  stayed  from  an}7  effort  to  restrain  them 
in  their  traitorous  work.  The  administration  of  James  Bu- 
chanan was  partly  involved  in  the  Treason.  The  new  Presi- 
dent and  his  cabinet  desired  conciliation  through  kindness  at 
the  beginning  of  their  rule  ;  and  not  until  one  month  after  the 
entrance  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  advisers  upon  executive  du- 
ties did  it  seem  good  or  fit,  in  their  eyes,  to  issue  a  proclama- 
tion of  warning  to  the  rebels,  and  calling  upon  loyal  citi- 
zens to  rally  to  the  support  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

And  what  was  the  immediate  cause  of  that  proclamation  ? 


19 

On  the  12th  of  April,  1861,  the  "  Confederate  forces "  at 
Charleston  opened  a  bombardment  upon  Fort  Sumter.  That 
Fort  then  contained  less  than  seventy  soldiers,  including  the 
officers,  and  they  were  sadly  worn  with  protracted  and  ex- 
hausting labors  and  in  a  reduced  condition  both  as  respects  sup- 
plies of  provisions  and  ammunition.  The  reason  assigned  for 
the  attack  at  that  particular  time  was  the  discovered  or  re- 
vealed intention  of  the  President  to  send  a  ship  load  of  food 
to  his  starving  soldiers,  long  confined  on  short  rations  within 
the  walls  of  the  fort.  For  this  ostensible  and  assigned  cause 
the  traitors  of  the  Kebelliou  of  1861  fired  upon  the  Flag  of 
the  American  Union.  Up  to  that  hour  the  people  of  the 
North  watched  their  preparations  with  a  quietness  that  seemed 
to  betoken  an  almost  supine  indifference.  The  newspapers 
were  covered  with  accounts  of  the  threatening  and  formidable 
battery  erections  by  the  South  Carolinians,  and  great  interest 
was  taken  in  the  North  in  perusing  those  accounts ;  but  more 
of  anxiety  was  felt  here  respecting  the  possible  organizations  of 
treason  at  home,  than  concerning  the  things  which  the  open- 
mouthed  rebels  at  Charleston  would  dare  to  do.  The  intelli- 
gent strangers  who  were  sojourning  in  our  midst,  and  who 
gleaned  all  their  impressions  of  our  sentiments  by  surface 
views,  did  not  hesitate  to  predict  to  their  fellow  citizens  or  sub- 
jects of  other  lands,  the  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  North  to 
almost  any  terms  for  conciliation. 

At  the  time  the  intelligence  of  the  committing  of  this  grand 
overt  act  reached  the  Federal  Capital,  I  was  in  the  city  of 
Washington  ;  and  the  first  really  confirmatory  report  of  the 
facts  which  I  gathered,  were  from  the  lips  of  an  excited  man, 
who,  in  front  of  one  of  the  principal  hotels,  on  Pennsylvania 
avenue,  was  engaged  in  relating  the  incidents  of  the  bombard- 
ment as  far  as  they  had  transpired,  and  denouncing  the  Rebels 
in  unmeasured  terms.  That  man  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

Up  to  this  hour  the  traitors  had  proceeded  with  acknowledged 
and  wonderful  cunning.  They  had  employed  their  subordi- 
nates at  the  North  in  the  business  of  prating  of  peace  by  non- 
resistance,  and  shouting  vociferously  against  the  policy  of  co- 
ercion. Something  of  caution  maybe  said  to  have  been  exhib- 
ited in  their  movements  up  to  this  point.  Something  like  a 
shrewd  regard  for  the  position  and  influence  of  their  helpmeets 


20 

in  the  North  appeared  to  exercise  a  modifying  tone  over  their 
counsels  and  actions.  But  the  blow  now  given  was  ordered 
in  a  crazy  mood,  and  was  a  fatal  one  for  the  insurgents.  The 
gun  first  fired  at  Sumter  sounded  the  beginning  of  self-retrib- 
utive folly.  Few  of  us  had  ever  seen  the  walls  of  the  assaulted 
fort,  but  we  all  knew  and  loved  and  honored  the  flag  of  our 
Union.  The  heart  of  every  loyal  man  was  smitten  with  throes  of 
indignation  when  that  great  insult  was  put  upon  our  national 
ensign.  The  blood  of  every  citizen  was  hot  as  his  lungs  drank 
in  the  very  atmosphere  of  revengeful  sorrow. 

We  all  knew  what  that  banner  typified  ;  what  memories  it 
could  suggest  from  out  its  starry  folds.  We  had  seen  its  con- 
stellation growing  larger  with  almost  every  alternate  earthly 
revolution  round  the  sun.  Many  of  us  had  seen  it  on  the  high 
seas,  streaming  proudly  over  the  deck  of  an  American  steamer. 
Or,  on  some  beautiful  moonlit  night,  in  a  comparatively  quiet 
sea  off  the  farther  South  American  Cape,  you  may  have  wit- 
nessed, as  I  have,  the  hauling  in  sight  of  an  English  merchant- 
man and  a  Boston  clipper,  their  prows  turned  toward  the  same 
haven  ;  and  as  the  speaking-trumpet  sounded  hoarsely  over 
the  billows,  you  may  have  beheld  the  running  up  of  our  national 
ensign  to  the  spanker  peak  in  answer  to  the  display  of  the 
cross  of  St.  George  ;  and  experienced  no  small  degree  of  en- 
thusiasm and  no  light  sense  of  national  superiority,  as  the 
sharp-edged  vessel  of  Yankee-land  shook  out  her  de  gallants 
and  royals,  and  flew  away  from  the  tardy  keel  of  old  England, 
leaving  a  wake  of  laughing  waters  -behind  her,  while  the  flag 
of  the  Union  whipped  out  its  saucy  stripes  in  the  breeze. 
We  may  have  seen  it  displayed  from  a  sloop-of-war  in  a  foreign 
harbor,  its  stripes  falling  gracefully  in  the  lull  of  the  wind 
below  the  upper  deck  port-holes,  wrapping  themselves  par- 
tially, as  in  loving  embrace,  around  the  protruding  muzzle  of 
an  eighty  pound  peacemaker.  From  the  house-top  of  minister 
or  consul  it  may  have  spoken  to  you  in  terms  of  cheering  and 
protectful  significance.  We  know  that  from  every  building 
of  collected  industry,  from  the  tower  of  every  church,  college 
and  academy  in  the  land,  for  more  than  half  a  century  it  has 
been  given  to  the  winds.  And  there  may  be  those  among  us 
who  have  seen,  as  we  have  all  read,  how  it  has  flaunted  on  the 
field  of  battle  ;  how  it  has  been  borne  forward  to  the  thickest 


21 

of  the  fray  with  a  determination  and  valor  that  could  be 
paused  only  in  death ;  how  it  has  gleamed  in  the  very  spirit  of 
exultation  as  after  a  desperate  struggle  it  has  been  planted  in 
triumph  on  the  ramparts  of  the  enemy.  And  you  may  have 
seen  it,  as  on  many  a  night  I  have  delighted  to  behold  it,  wav- 
ing over  the  superbly  illuminated  dome  of  the  senate  chamber 
or  the  hall  of  representatives  at  Washington  ;  its  ever  unwinding 
folds  bathed  in  a  halo  of  upspringing  light,  playing  upon  the 
silver  stars  in  its  azure,  which  flashed  with  upturned  faces  as 
though  responsive  to  signals  from  the  glittering  vault  of  heaven 
itself. 

All  our  recollections  of  our  country's  history,  all  our  de- 
sires for  its  future,  have  been  cemented  and  harmonized  by 
this  beautiful  expression  of  our  National  existence,  power  and 
glory.  And  it  was  upon  this  flag,  floating  peacefully  over  a 
fort  built  by  our  Government  in  Charleston  harbor,  for  the 
protection  there  of  American  interests — a  fort  now  garrisoned 
by  less  than  seventy  half-famished  soldiers — it  was  upon  this 
flag  thus  placed  that  these  accursed  traitors,  these  cowardly 
cut-throats  dared  to  fire. 

The  people  of  the  North  had  long  borne  the  most  flagrant 
insults  from  the  sons  of  spurious  "  chivalry  "  in  the  South. 
Our  time-honored  and  almost  sainted  customs  were  the  habit- 
ual subject  of  their  ridicule  ;  our  very  industry  and  ingenuity 
was  set  down  to  the  credit  of  sordid  and  avaricious  impulse, 
by  the  lazy  offspring  of  degenerate  Virginia,  themselves  liv- 
ing on  the  National  charity  in  sinecure  offices  at  the  Capital. 
Our  religious  ceremonies  were  intruded  upon  by  their  sneer- 
ing and  mockery ;  in  hours  of  lowest  debauchery  they  sought 
to  cast  upon  our  domestic  altars  the  spawn  of  their  vilest  slan- 
der. All  this  had  been  endured  without  murmur  or  retort,  in 
a  spirit  sometimes  warming  with  contempt,  but  always  philo- 
sophical and  free  from  the  nurture  of  retaliation  in  kind.  But 
when  this  outrage  was  committed  upon  our  Flag — fearful  by 
all  the  circumstances  connected  with  its  perpetration — the  can- 
dle of  more  than  fraternal  patience  burned  quick  to  the  socket. 

As  we  now  reflect  upon  it,  can  we  be  surprised  at  the  una- 
nimity with  which  the  people  of  the  North  called  for  measures 
of  retribution  ?  Do  we  stand  amazed  in  view  of  the  fact,  that 
at  the  moment  when  this  indignity  was  made  known,  party 


22 

spirit,  the  great  bane  of  the  land,  seemed  overwhelmed  and 
buried  in  a  gushing  wealth  of  patriotic  sentiment  ?  That 
from  every  hand,  with  inconsiderable  and  contemptible  ex- 
ceptions, the  voice  of  our  people  was  as  the  voice  of  one  man 
for  the  vindication  of  the  Government  ? 

No  !  No  !  We  cannot  but  feel :  Never  was  there  so  wicked 
and  wanton  a  Rebellion ; — for  never  was  there  so  kind  and 
beneficent  a  government  in  all  the  earth,  and  never  have  the 
records  of  time  produced  a  calendar  containing  the  names  and 
the  deeds  of  such  detestable  wretches  as  are  those  who  to-day 
imagine  or  pretend  they  rule  in  the  land  of  slave  auctions  and 
cotton  plantations. 

The  Nation — that  portion  of  the  Nation  which  has  for  many 
years  constituted  its  chief  strength  and  its  undimmed  glory, 
sprang  to  arms.  The  President's  requisition  for  seventy-five 
thousand  men  was  met,  so  far  as  readiness  for  service  was  con- 
cerned, in  less  than  twenty-four  hours  after  it  had  been  given 
to  the  public. 

And  first  and  foremost  in  the  field,  were  the  sons  of  Massachu- 
setts. 0  !  Glorious  old  -Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts !  Thy 
Name  had  become  a  watch-word  of  Freedom  in  days  long  past. 
Now,  thy  vigilance,  thy  promptitude,  thy  sufferings  and  losses 
in  the  maintaining  of  the  Union,  of  which  thou  hast  ever  been 
the  crown  jewel,  has  made  thee  doubly  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
all  thy  children.  It  is  with  indescribable  emotions  of  pride 
and  joy  that  we  remember  we  are  on  thy  soil  to-day.  Thy 
sous  hastened  forth  at  their  country's  call,  from  the  farm,  the 
work-shop,  the  manufactory,  the  professional  office,  to  re-con- 
secrate, in  the  most  impressive  manner  possible,  the  day  of 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  and  to  render  yet  more  "  sacred  "  the 
soil  of  the  Old  Dominion.- 

I  stood  in  the  streets  of  the  commercial  metropolis  as  they 
marched  through  on  their  way  to  the  Federal  Capital.  The 
scene  presented  was  one  of  ovation.  Right  soldierly  they  kept 
on  their  line  of  march,  their  faces  set  like  flint  towards  their 
posts  of  destination  and  danger.  The  impromptu  and  enthu- 
siastic demonstrations  along  their  route  must  have  cheered 
and  encouraged  them,  but  these  were  not  needed  to  stimulate 
their  patriotic  love  and  determination.  They  knew  that  they 
were  about  their  Nation's  business.  On  the  following  day 


23 

we  heard  of  their  encounter  in  the  city  of  Baltimore.  In  less 
than  a  week  from  that  time  I  saw  Massachusetts  men  recon- 
structing and  guarding  the  railroad  between  Annapolis  and 
Washington. 

Nor,  in  this  connection,  should  we  neglect  to  acknowledge 
the  ready  and  valuable  services  of  that  regiment  from  the  Me- 
tropolis, composed  of  some  of  the  worthiest  and  wealthiest 
young  men  of  the  city,  who,  leaving  homes  of  cultivation  and 
refinement  and  habits  of  life  in  the  most  exalted  social  circles, 
buckled  on  their  armor  at  a  day's  warning,  and  in  splendidly 
disciplined  array,  like  the  Old  Guard  of  Napoleon,  swept  down 
the  broad  thoroughfare  through  crowds  of  weeping  yet  ap- 
plauding relatives  and  friends,  on  their  way  to  sustain  their 
Massachusetts  brethren,  and  to  carve  out  for  themselves  en- 
during tablets  of  fame.  All  honor  !  all  honor !  to  the  flower  of 
the  American  militia — the  incomparable  Seventh  Regiment  of 
New  York. 

Within  three  or  four  days  from  the  issuing  of  the  President's 
proclamation,  the  leading  citizens  of  New  York  city  irrespec- 
tive of  party,  united  in  a  call  for  a  grand  "Union  Meeting," 
to  be  held  in  Union  Square,  on  Saturday,  the  20th  of  April. 
On  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  before  the  hour  appointed  for 
the  meeting  had  arrived,  the  stores  in  the  lower  pa*rt  of  the 
city  were  closed,  and  people  flocked  to  the  place  of  assembling 
from  all  directions  and  in  massive  crowds.  At  the  hour  when 
the  meeting  was  called  to  order,  it  was  computed  by  careful 
estimaters  that  not  less  than  eighty  thousand  persons  had  ranged 
themselves  within  hearing  distance  of  the  speakers  from  the 
different  stands.  And  the  tide  of  attendance  increased  from 
that  moment  until  the  close  of  the  ceremonies  of  the  occasion. 
Never  before,  on  this  continent,  was  there  such  a  gathering. 
Never  were  there  so  many  elements,  heretofore  at  complete 
political  variance,  brought  in  homogeneous  contact,  agreement 
and  resolution.  Upon  the  same  platform  were  prominent  citi- 
zens of  all  parties  ;  and  from  their  lips  and  hearts  came  burn- 
ing words  of  patriotism.  From  those  who,  until  a  very  recent 
period,  had  been  the  most  noted  champions  of  the  "  interest  of 
the  south,"  within  the  bounds  of  loyalty,  the  word  was  ardent 
and  fierce—"  We  must  drive  the  Traitors  into  the  sea." 

The  merchant  was  there,  pledging — I  use  the  very  language 


24 

of  one  of  the  most  prominent  among  them — pledging  "the  com- 
mercial accomplishments  of  more  than  forty  years  hard  labor 
over  the  counter  and  the  ledger  to  the  preservation  of  our 
Institutions  and  the  sustaining  of  the  Governmental  author- 
ities in  the  fullest  and  freest  exercise  of  their  constitutional  pre- 
rogatives." 

The  Scotch  citizen  soldier  was  there,  arrayed  in  the  uniform 
of  his  highland  regiment  which  had  that  evening  received  or- 
ders to  prepare  for  the  march  to  the  Capital ;  through  his 
leaders  promising,  if  required,  to  march  "  through  Baltimore 
or  over  the  place  where  Baltimore  once  was." 

The  German  citizen  was  there,  patriotically  addressing  his 
brethren  of  like  nativity  in  that  same  sweet  accent  which  the 
Commander-in-chief  of  our  army  declared  was  most  delightful 
to  hear. 

And  the  officers  of  the  immortal  sixty-ninth  regiment — com- 
posed wholly  of  citizens  of  Irish  extraction — were  upon  the 
platforms;  relating  substantial  evidence  of  the  faithfulness 
of  their  soldiers  in  this  hour  of  trial ;  informing  the  assembled 
multitude  that  to  fill  a  requirement  for  less  than  three  hundred 
men,  in  that  grand  section  of  our  army,  over  twenty  thousand 
able-bodied  Irishmen,  thoroughly  qualified  for  the  most  active 
and  severe  service,  had  pressed  their  claims  for  place,  while  the 
stations  opened  for  recruits  were  still  beseiged  by  uncounted 
crowds.  We  knew  that  whatever  of  hesitation  other  classes  of 
our  foreign-born  population  might  exhibit  in  presenting  them- 
selves in  direct  support  of  the  Government,  our  elected  rulers 
would  find  sufficient  power  at  hand  for  the  protection  of  their 
official  residence  and  the  ultimate  execution  of  their  mandates 
throughout  the  Union,  among  the  adopted  citizens  from  old 
Erin, — whose  children  "  never  turn  their  back  to  a  foe  in  war 
or  a  friend  in  need."  They  knew  what  it  was  to  live  and  suf- 
fer under  an  oppressive  government ;  they  appreciated  the 
mildness  and  fostering  care  of  our  administrations. — And  be 
it  here  remembered,  when  this  regiment  had  entrenched  them- 
selves on  the  heights  of  Arlington,  they  planted  their  favorite 
battery-gun  on  their  well-made  embankment,  and  as  it  pointed 
traitor-ward,  shotted  to  the  lips,  they  called  upon  their  Catho- 
lic Chaplain  to  baptize  it  in  the  name  of  Liberty  and  their  holy 
religion. 


25 

The  French  citizen  soldier  was  there  ;  proudly  •recounting 
the  deeds  of  Lafayette,  and  swearing  with  a  vivacity  inimita- 
ble outside  of  his  impetuous  race,  that  he  and  his  comrades 
would  follow  the  teachings  and  examples  of  that  loved  com- 
panion of  "Washington,  and  if  possible  bear  evidence  that  an 
equally  unselfish  impulse  animated  their  hearts. 

The  exiled  sons  of  Poland  and  Hungary  were  there ;  and 
their  swarthy  countenances  grew  livid  with  emotional  express- 
ion as  they  spoke  in  language  incoherent  in  itself,  but  unmis- 
takable in  its  revelation  of  will,  of  Kosciusko,  Kossuth  and 
Anderson. 

And  those  were  there  for  whom  it  must  have  been 
equally  unpleasant  to  behold  and  to  be  seen  ;  men  who  were 
compelled  by  the  clearly-evinced  purpose  of  the  people  to  im- 
prove a  last-grace  opportunity  of  announcing  their  readiness 
to  perform  their  share  of  labor  in  maintaining  the  Govern- 
ment in  its  integrity.  There  was  Fernando  Wood,  long  and 
universally  recognized  as  the  most  unscrupulous  demagogue, 
the  most  ambitious  and  reckless  politician  of  the  land, — who 
had  but  recently  made  a  semi-official  proposition  to  declare  the 
"  independence  "  of  New  York  city  as  a  new  copy  of  the 
"  model  Dutch  Republics."  From  the  lofty  eminence  6f  pro- 
spective ruler  over  such  a  petty  government,  he  suddenly  tum- 
bled down  to  the  better  place  of  tail-end  and  barely  tolerated 
speaker  at  this  mighty  Union  gathering. 

Veterans  who  fought  under  our  flag  in  the  war  of  1812  were 
there,  clad  in  their  well-worn  yet  well-preserved  uniforms  ;  by 
their  grave  and  venerable  aspect,  as  well  as  by  their  occasional 
words  of  approbation,  lending  a  solemn  interest  to  the  scene 
and  deepening  the  resolutions  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
audience  who  were  soon  to  start  for  the  posts  of  danger  and 
conflict. 

And  there  were  other  persons  and  features  in  the  scene 
whose  presence  was  more  august  and  exhilarating.  Over  the 
principal  stand  floated  the  parapet  flag  of  Fort  Sumtor,  which 
was  nailed  upon  its  staff,  in  the  midst  of  the  bombardment, 
by  the  daring  Hart.  And  the  extended  hand  of  the  bronze 
equestrian  statue  of  Washington,  rising  from  the  center  of  the 
open  square,  grasped  the  shattered  staff  from  which  streamed 
the  torn  and  perforated  folds  of  that  larger  ensign  which  the 
4 


26 

brave  garrison  of  less  than  seventy  saluted,  as  they  left  their 
battered  keep. 

And  there,  by  turns,  on  each  of  the  platforms  erected  around 
the  vast  area,  stood  the  heroes  of  the  hour — the  men  who  had 
lately  won  for  themselves  undying  fame,  while  they  had  added 
a  new  and  glorious  chaplet  to  the  brow  of  the  Goddess  of 
American  Liberty.  Major  Anderson,  Captains  Doubleday 
and  Foster  were  presented  to  those  hosts  of  freemen,  and  re- 
ceived such  patriotic  cheer  and  homage  as  was  never  before 
paid  to  mortal  men. 

And  w^hile,  again,  we  proclaim — Never  before  was  there  such 
an  unprovoked  and  unrighteous  rebellion,  never  such  exhibi- 
tions of  black-hearted  ingratitude  and  treachery,  we  have  now 
to  add,  with  irrepressible  and  jubilant  emphasis — Never  was 
there  such  a  spontaneous  uprising  of  the  people  of  a  nation  in 
support  of  the  constitution  and  the  laws. 

At  this  mammoth  Union  meeting,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
city  of  New  York  would  "  adopt  "  the  families  of  the  volun- 
teers who  there  enlisted  and  proceeded  to  the  seat  of  war.  A 
"  Union  Defense  Committee  "  was  appointed,  whose  action 
from  that  date,  it  is  fair  and  only  just  to  say,  has  contributed 
as  much  to  keep  alive  the  military  ambition  and  spirit  of  the 
people,  and  to  promote  the  comfort  of  the  soldiers,  as  any  reg- 
ularly organized  commissary  or  sanitary  department  of  the 
army.  They  first  authoritatively  informed  the  President  and 
his  cabinet  of  the  endorsing  and  urging  temper  of  the  North. 
At  this  meeting  there  were  subscribed  by  the  merchant  princes 
of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  to  the  fund  for  the  equipment  of 
volunteers  and  the  maintenance  of  their  families,  over  $100,000. 

And  as  the  sun  commenced  sinking  behind  the  Elysian 
Fields,  that  immense  assemblage  sang  in  wonderful  harmony, 
and  with  thrilling  effect : 

"  When  Treason's  dark  cloud  hovers  black  o'er  the  land, 

And  Traitors  conspire  to  sully  her  glory, — 
When  that  banner  is  torn  by  a  fratricide  band, 

Whose  bright  starry  folds  shine  illumined  in  story, — 
United  we  stand  for  the  dear  native  land  ; 
For  the  Union  we  pledge  every  heart,  every  hand  ! 
For  the  star-spangled  banner  in  triumph  shall  wave 
While  the  land  of  the  free  is  the  home  of  the  brave." 


27 

From  that  hour  to  this,  there  has  been  no  failing  in  the 
olution  and  enthusiasm  of  the  people.  I  need  not  recount  the 
events  so  ready  in  your  recollection.  An  army  of  over  two 
hundred  thousand  men  has  been  prepared  for  the  field.  More 
than  half  that  number  are  now  in  actual  service.  Men  of  great 
distinction  in  civil  life  have  left  their  ordinary  professional  pur- 
suits to  accept  military  commands. 


This  day,  a  son  and  Ex-Governor  of  Massachusetts  is*  en- 
gaged in  the  excellent  work  of  arresting  and  endungeoning 
the  officially-clad  traitors  in  that  infernal  nest  of  treason,  the 
City  of  Baltimore.  From  your  own  community  men  have 
gone  forth,  eminently  worthy  to  stand  in  the  ranks  of  an  army 
on  which  the  hope  of  the  country  reposes.  From  all  New  Eng- 
land the  response  to  the  Executive's  call  has  been  immediate 
and  hearty. 

Little  Ehode  Island  has  sent  forth  large  and  superior  forces, 
which,  with  her  youthful  and  intrepid  Governor  at  their  head, 
have  been  appointed  to  posts  of  great  honor  and  danger. 

Connecticut  has  raised  and  dispatched  a  noble  band  of  sol- 
diers ;  like  a  careful  mother,  supplying  them  with  every  requi- 
site of  camp  life  arid  comfort. 

The  boys  of  Bennington  have  turned  into  service,  in  a  man- 
ner creditable  to  the  memories  of  their  place  ;  marching  into 
the  front  ranks  with  a  step  indicative  of  a  like  temper  with 
the  Revolutionary  Hero  who  declared,  "  The  enemy  is  ours 
to-night  boys,  or  Molly  Stark'  s  a  widow  !" 

And  from  the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire  and  the  pine 
forests  of  Maine  we  have  heard  the  tramp  of  serried  and  reso- 
lute hosts.  jfojftffiaft 

The  Empire  State  and  the  Key  Stone  State  have  more  men 
sworn  into  the  II.  S.  service  as  volunteer  soldiers  than  were 
required  by  the  proclamation  of  the  15th  of  April. 

New  Jersey  raises  four  capital  regiments,  while  her  people 
are  praying  for  a  larger  requisition,  and  in  their  petition  com- 
plaining of  a  partiality  toward  sister  loyal  states. 

As  we  turn  our  eyes  to  the  West,  what  a  spectacle  is  pre- 
sented !  In  that  quarter,  the  offer  of  men  for  the  service  far 
exceeds  any  demand  which  the  most  apprehensive  and  timorous 
in  our  cause  have  reason  to  anticipate.  And  to  that  region 
we  must  look  for  a  display  of  energetic  military  conduct,  such 


28 

as  the  country  particularly  covets  at  this  time.  The  fine 
audacity  arid  quick  execution  of  General  Lyon  and  Colonel 
Blair  provide  some  of  the  principal  scenes  in  the  gallery  of 
war  paintings  which  this  contest  thus  far  has  afforded. 

Although  there  has  been  no  great  battle,  there  are  many 
noble  dead  to  mourn.  Brethren  peculiarly  our  own,  chil- 
dren of  the  old  Bay  State,  Needham,  Whitney  and  Ladd, 
— they  have  been  stricken  down  by  assassins  in  a  city  which 
has  no  monument  within  its  limits  equal  to  that  which 
shall  be  erected  to  their  honor.  Our  sorrow  for  those 
who  have  fallen  in  this  rebellion  shall  be  the  regret  of  men 
who  expect  in  part  to  witness  and  wholly  to  anticipate  their 
exceeding  great  reward.  And  on  this  day,  in  this  quiet  vil- 
lage, as  sinks  the  sun  behind  yon  pleasant  hill,  we  will  com- 
mence for  ourselves  the  tribute  of  acknowledgment  and 
praise  while  we  mention  the  names  of  the  imperial  Yosburgh, 
the  accomplished  Winthrop,  the  brave  and  skillful  Greble, 
the  chivalrous  Ellsworth  !  They  have  been  laid  in  their  final 
resting  place,  wrapped  in  the  flag  they  died  to  defend.  Their 
deeds  are  things  tangible  in  the  memories  of  all  patriots  ;  and 
in  time  to  come  where  thousands  now  weep  over  their  fate, 
millions  shall  pronounce  their  names  in  grateful  and  immortal 
song. 

From  a  too  intense  apprehension  in  regard  to  our  immedi- 
ate future,  as  it  might  be  shaped  by  the  conduct  of  those  en- 
gaged in  the  administering  of  national  affairs,  our  attention 
has  been  frequently  diverted  to  an  inquiry  as  to  the  views 
which  other  governments  have  chosen  to  take  of  our  condition 
and  prospects.  And  here,  to  the  majority  of  our  people,  there 
has  been  food  for  the  profoundest  wonder. 

The  English  government  has  professed  the  utmost  detesta- 
tion of  African  slavery.  Notwith  stand  ing  the  universally 
known  and  acknowledged  fact  that  the  English  forced  this 
system  of  bondage  upon  unwilling  and  protesting  Colonists, 
for  the  purpose  of  her  own  aggrandizement,  she  has  been  for 
years  in  the  habit  of  sniveling  over  what  she  termed  the  in- 
consistences  in  our  civil  creed  and  our  institutions.  I  think  it 
cannot  be  fairly  denied  that  she  has  occupied  a  moral  vantage 
ground  in  this  particular ;  that  she  has  been,  despite  all  the 
unpleasant  incidents  in  our  connection  with  her,  entitled  by 


29 

her  one  great  act  of  Emancipation  to  the  privilege  of  reading 
homilies  to  all  other  nations  on  the  wickedness  of  human 
slavery.  Nor  has  her  right  in  these  matters  been  largely  ques- 
tioned. Some  of  us  have  been  glad  to  peruse  the  elaborate 
addresses  of  her  Exeter  Hall  Committees  and  her  African  Civ- 
ilization Societies,  and  have  pointed  with  a  liberal  pride  to  her 
position  on  the  agitating  question  of  our  own  land.  If  it  be 
said  that  all  these  expressions  of  sentiment  were  informal, 
were  not  the  voice  of  the  Government,  it  is  an  easy  and  full 
reply  to  say  that  the  chief  counselors  of  the  Kingdom  con- 
descended to  participate  in  such  expressions,  and  to  give  the 
italicising  force  of  their  names  to  the  phillipics  which  the 
British  public  have  pronounced  against  the  masters  of  slaves 
in  the  South  and  their  peculiar  friends  in  the  North.  They 
have  not  failed  to  receive  biting  retorts  in  the  fashion  of  re- 
minders— that  the  staple  for  their  principal  manufactories 
was  planted,  cultivated,  gathered  and  made  ready  for  their 
eager  market  by  the  hands  of  enslaved  toil.  But  either  by 
the  most  discreet  silence  or  by  an  Edinburgh  essay  on  their 
irresponsibility  for  the  character  of  remote  sources  of  raw  ma- 
terial, they  have  escaped  much  opprobrium,  as  well  as  laid 
perfectly  dormant  their  sensitive  conscience.  But  the  hour 
that  tests  our  love  for  and  fidelity  to  the  Union  weighs  in  the 
balance  their  professions  of  moral  and  Christian  sentiment 
bearing  upon  the  question  of  African  Slavery,  and  proves  them 
miserably  lacking. 

From  the  moment  when  this  Rebellion  assumed  formidable 
proportions,  the  proposition  to  recognize  the  "  Southern  Con- 
federacy "  was  heard  in  the  English  Parliament.  Indeed,  from 
the  quickness  and  persistency  exhibited  in  pressing  this  mo- 
tion reason  was  given  for  suspecting  that  there  was  a  direct 
collision  between  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  espec- 
ially representing  British  manufactory  interests,  and  the 
Usurpers  of  the  South. 

The  leading  press  of  the  Kingdom — by  no  means  bound  by 
the  cotton  lords  of  the  land — has  continually  mocked  our  trib- 
ulations, and  sung  the  praises  of  the  chiefs  of  Treason.  At 
one  time  it  represented  our  government  as  never  strong,  and 
about  to  fall  in  pieces.  It  has  proceeded  to  accuse  the  people 
of  these  Northern  States  with  blood-thirstiness,  as  soon  as  we 


30 

evinced  a  determination  to  support  the  Constitution  in  its  in- 
tegrity, and  insist  upon  the  execution  of  the  laws.  With  an 
exhibition  of  Egyptian  ignorance  concerning  our  geographical, 
political,  industrial  and  moral  positions,  it  has  sought  to  secure 
the  acknowledgment  at  home  of  the  "  Southern  Confederacy," 
and  respect  for  the  rebels  throughout  other  nations  to  whom 
it  spoke  in  somewhat  official  tones.  Such  a  fearful  want  of 
correct  information,  or  such  reckless  disregard  for  the  simple 
truths  of  our  condition  was  made  manifest  by  the  first  print  of 
the  Kingdom,  that  we  could  not  expect  a  very  wise  and  cor- 
dial support  in  the  sentiment  of  the  masses  to  whom  it  practi- 
cally dictated. 

It  may  be  said  that  we  are  yet  in  doubt  as  to  what  the  final 
action  of  Great  Britian  may  be.  Instead  of  relieving,  this  fact 
serves  to  aggravate  her  permanently  despicable  position  in  our 
eyes.  And  it  should  be  proclaimed,  that  the  loyal  people  of 
these  United  States  are  rapidly  losing  sentiments  of  regret  at 
the  equivocal  view  which  the  English  Government  manifests 
towards  us,  in  poorly  concealed  hopes  that  she  may  be  induced 
in  her  mercenary  greed  to  extend  an  arm  of  positive  help  to 
the  rebellious  foe. 

The  fact  is,  my  fellow  citizens,  Canada  is  inconveniently 
ruled  at  present.  We  have  not  employment  for  a  tithe  of  the 
fighting  material  that  is  chafing  for  military  exploits.  Our 
landlords  have  long  declared  that  the  other  side  of  the  Niagara 
was  very  much  needed  for  the  extension  of  a  favorite  watering- 
place.  And  upon  the  western  shore  there  is>  beautiful  little 
Island,  called  "Vancouver,"  which  the  Californians,  with  their 
proverbial  filibustering  spirit,  have  long  regarded  with  fretful 
vision.  If  the  inhabitants  of  the  British  possessions  imme- 
diately attached  or  contiguous  to  our  territory,  feel  disposed  at 
any  moment  to  act  a  little  on  the  "  independent  " — as  without 
a  great  deal  of  encouragement  on  our  part  it  is  well  known 
they  would — we  shall  be  probably  induced  to  take  such  a 
"  neutral  stand  "  as  will  afford  them  perhaps  more  than  an 
even  opportunity  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  "shop-keepers' 
sovereign." 

The  position  of  France  is  certainly  favorable.  The  Emperor 
explicitly  recognizes  the  Southern  Confederacy  in  the  only 
manner  in  which  it  deserves  recognition ;  and  by  his  rules  re- 


31 

specting  the  entrance  of  their  vessels  into  his  ports,  he  has  in- 
dicated that  he  will  have  no  alliance  or  affiliation  with  the 
traitors. 

The  nohle  heroes  of  Italy  seem  to  be  reclining  on  their  arms 
in  silent  yet  disciplining  study  of  our  action.  A  new  bond  of 
sympathy  has  been  forged  between  us.  Not  through  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  past,  but  by  the  realities  of  the  present,  do  we 
speak  together.  With  what  profound  interest  must  they  read 
the  intelligence  of  the  progress  of  our  struggles.  They  can 
not  be  wrong  in  their  judgment  as  to  which  side  of  the  con- 
test should  seize  the  sympathies  of  a  people  who  have  recently 
cast  off,  or  who  are  about  to  unloose  for  themselves,  the  mana- 
cles of  tyranny. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  accordance  with  a 
special  call  of  the  President,  meets  this  day  to  ratify  the  action 
of  the  President  within  the  past  few  months,  and  to  devise 
means  for  carrying  on  the  work  of  trampling  this  rebellion 
under  foot.  For  no  other  purpose  was  it  called.  With  the 
feeblest  respect  for  the  wishes  of  the  people,  it  can  entertain  no 
other  or  different  propositions.  The  bare  idea  of  compromise 
with  the  rebels  is  so  revolting  to  the  patriot  that  it  would  seem 
past  the  audacity  or  weakness  of  any  sane  man  to  suggest  it 
in  the  Capital  counsels.  We  feel  assured  that  there  will  be  no 
temporizing  with  the  traitors ;  but  that  this  very  time  will 
have  been  rendered  more  memorable  and  sacred  by  the  initia- 
tory labor  of  the  extraordinary  Congress  which  assembles  to- 
day. God  grant  that  it  may  be  so. 

Our  Federal  Capital  is  safe.  Over  seventy  thousand  troops 
surround  it  in  sentinel  array.  On  the  Virginia  Bank,  from 
the  Falls  of  the  Potomac  down  to  the  Rights  of  Arlington, 
and  reaching  to  eminences  overlooking  the  very  shades  of 
Mount  Yernon,  there  is  one  continuous  line  of  thinking  bayo- 
nets, whose  burnished  blades  echo  back  to  the  Blue  Ridge  the 
fires  of  the  evening  sun. 

In  a  large  room  in  an  ancient  building  devoted  to  the  De- 
partment of  War,  at  Washington,  is  seated  a  venerable  old 
man,  matured  and  grown  gray  in  the  service  of  this  country. 
To  him  all  eyes  are  turned  ;  all  ears  are  open  to  catch  his  word 
of  command.  The  majesty  of  his  presence  and  power  is  une- 


32 

qualed  in  the  world  ;  for  he  points  the  rifles,  and  plants  and 
sights  the  artillery  of  FEEEDOM. 

There  are  local  associations  which  might  be  revived  to-day. 
One  hundred  years  ago  to-day  the  anniversary  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  was  celebrated  for  the  first  time  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  organized  town  of  Great  Barrington — the  cor- 
porate  existence  of  this  town  dating  from  the  30th  of  June  pre- 
ceding. But  all  local  associations  are  swallowed  up  in  the 
great  thought  of  our  Nationality.  Give  another  hour  to  their 
review  ;  iiow  render  them  humbly  subservient  to  the  supreme 
consideration  of  our  common  country. 

We  stand  here  to-day,  first  recognizing  the  glorious  truth  of 
our  citizenship  in  a  Republic  unequaled  in  its  expanse  of 
territory,  unapproachable  throughout  the  world's  history  in 
the  freedom  and  beneficence  of  its  institutions.  And  if  I  might 
do  so  with  pardonable  egotism,  I  would  desire  to  borrow 
something  of  impressive  significance,  while  at  the  same  time  I 
gather  a  shadow  of  apology  for  what  otherwise  might  be 
deemed  a  naked  impertinence  in  my  position,  by  reminding 
you  that  those  who  have  had  the  order  of  this  Celebration  in 
charge  have  seen  fit,  with  very  brief  notice,  to  call  for  an  ad- 
dress from  one  of  your  sons  whose  place  is  not  now  amongst 
you,  whose  home  is  upon  the  shore  of  another  ocean,  and  yet 
whose  proudest  boast  remains,  that  although  thousands  of 
miles  measure  the  distance  between  his  adopted  residence  and 
these  grand  old  mountains  and  this  beautiful  valley,  he  could 
not  there  be  anything  other  or  less  than  an  American  citizen. 

Thank  God  !  the  appreciation  of  our  equal  national  brother- 
hood grows  brighter  and  more  beautiful  in  the  tempest.  We 
are  a  broadly-built,  a  widely  settled  people,  living  under  one 
embracing  government. 

The  winter  sun  that  rises  from  the  surging  Atlantic  upon 
the  cold  and  austere  coast  of  New  England,  sweeps  grandly 
over  the  bosom  of  a  mighty  continent,  to  find  its  billowy 
resting-place  in  the  calm  waters  of  the  Pacific,  and  in  its  set- 
ting hour,  to  pour  through  the  Golden  Gate  upon  a  people  of 
the  same  great  Nation  a  magnificent  Benediction  of  Heavenly 
Light.  You  may  catch  glimpses  of  his  beams  early  on  your 
new  year's  morning,  as  surrounded  by  a  train  of  clouds,  wThich 


33 

he  lias  lifted  from  the  Atlantic  and  from  your  rivers  and  lakes ; 
day  by  day,  in  collusion  with  prevailing  winds,  he  draws  them 
farther  and  farther  West,  on  his  veiled  but  royal  march  across 
the  plains,  until  with  increasing  seductive  influence  he  rolls 
them  over  the  snow-capped  summits  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas — 
then  touching  with  warmer  rays  the  spray  of  the  Pacific,  he 
thence  evokes  a  greeting  procession  of  vapors,  which  meeting 
and  mingling  with  the  mists  of  the  East,  above  the  uttermost 
parts  of  our  land,  are  there  at  last  broken  in  genial  and  bap- 
tismal showers.  Nature,  with  all  her  inarticulate  voices — the 
wheeling  apparatus  of  our  planetary  system — the  ever  shifting 
and  healthful  play  of  the  chemistry  of  air — the  geography  of 
a  hemisphere — the  embracing  tides  of  oceans — the  flowing  of 
streams — the  basoning  of  lakes — the  granite  girding  of  huge 
mountains,  whose  peaks  spring  into  regions  of  ethereal  chas- 
tity, there  everlastingly  crowned  with  frosts  of  saintliness  which 
testify  to  all  the  land  the  blessedness  of  the  summer  seasons, 
as  they  melt  and  trickle  down  the  hoary  cliffs  in  fertilizing 
tears  of  joy — the  variegated  landscape  of  vast,  luxuriant  and 
chaining  valleys — the  ripening  under  the  same  parallel,  in  dif- 
ferent longitudes,  of  temperate  and  tropical  fruits — the  tele- 
graphic whisperings  of  the  leaves  of  tender  shrubbery  and 
stalwart  forest  monarchs — the  flying  eddies  of  desert  sands — 
the  smiling  into  richest  fragrance  and  most  bewitching  beauty 
of  countless  wild  flowers,  gathered  into  new,  representative 
and  sisterly  clusters  by  the  traveler  who  journeys  from  sea  to 
sea — all,  all  unite  in  unceasing  sacramental  office  of  re-marrying 
this  beloved  people  in  one  undivided,  indissoluble  Nation. 

Fellow  citizens,  the  hour  is  full  of  instruction,  and  not  de- 
void of  cheer.  The  lessons  are  plain,  and  the  hopes  which  it 
inspires  are  generous  and  holy. 

We  are  assured  of  the  inherent  strength  of  our  Government 
above  our  highest  anticipations  of  old.  No  weakness  in  the 
Executive  office,  no  cowardice  and  political  chambering  on  the 
part  of  the  leading  counselor  in  the  chair  of  state,  no  disas- 
ters on  the  field  of  skirmish,  brought  about  through  the  in- 
competency  of  Brigadier-Generals  illegitimately  promoted 
from  obscure  private  life  to  important  military  commands, — 
none  of  these  can  have  a  permanently  injurious  effect  upon 
5 


34 

our  cause.  Of  men  and  money,  of  arms  and  provisions,  we 
have  an  abundance ;  and  let  those  challenge  our  wrath  who 
think  such  action  pleasant  or  safe. 

But  remember,  in  the  maintaining  of  this  government,  at 
this  crisis,  we  all  have  a  part  to  perform.  Our  part  may  be  a 
very  humble  one  but,  whatever  it  be,  as  patriotic  citizens  we 
must  contribute  with  all  our  energy  and  soul.  Of  our  means, 
of  our  influence,  of  our  heart's  blood  it  may  be,  something  is 
required.  Let  it  be  given  freely,  with  the  prayer  that  all  these 
sacrifices  and  endeavors  in  behalf  of  the  kindest  and  most  en- 
lightened rule  the  world  has  ever  known,  may  speedily,  by  the 
people  of  a  regenerate  and  peaceful  nation,  be  laid  as  an  ac- 
ceptable votive  offering  at  the  footstool  of  the  God  of  a  Chris- 
tian Civilization. 


